I was just curious if anyone on here was open for only 6 days a week. Were you always 6 or did you go form 7 to 6?
I’d be curious to see what would happen if in the offseason here in FL we were to close on Monday, our slowest day. It totals about 10% of our week. Would Tuesday and Wednesday possibly rise to help offset the one day off? Would people get annoyed and the other days drop? Would things just remain as is?
Curious to hear if anyone has any experience with only being open for 6/7 days a week.
I’m closed on Sundays. I know we could do decent business that day but, as the name implies, I’m a Roman Catholic Deacon in another corner of my life. “On the 7th day He rested”…and that’s a good enough excuse for me! With the Deacon gig I have teaching and preaching duties to tend on Sundays. After that it’s usually NAP, or laundry for the week or a combo then we gear it all back up for Monday morning!
My wife had pushed to be closed on Mondays as well. I disagreed with her about being shut down TWO days a week. Most weeks it’s only a break even day, but we’ve never lost money so it’s effective I suppose.
We went from 7 to 6 for about ten years. Monday and Tuesday were “not worth it” slow, so we closed on Mondays. Result was Tuesdays doubled - A win/win result. No effect on other days. (We were forced to start opening on Mondays at 4:00 about 5 years ago - got too darn busy on all days to justify being closed all day.)
There are many reasons other than sales to close a day or two a week – faith, rest, sanity, etc. Every study, article or anything written on this subject that “I” have read concluded being closed certain days does effect overall weekly sales in a negative manner.
For me, a personal example is forgetting which day a business is closed. I’m thinking they are closed on Sunday and so go Monday only to find out they were open Sunday and not Monday. If a business is closed on a certain day people are left to discover the competition. Someone just moves in to town and sees you’re closed and so looks up the next pizza place.
I’m sure there are unique circumstances that exist. I also don’t doubt that a day following a closed day picks up “extra” sales, but overall “greater” sales???
There’s nothing wrong with being closed – its your business and personal happiness that counts. I just wouldn’t suggest doing if you think it won’t effect overall sales.
I am closed on Mondays and it did not effect business when we started closing on Mondays. My Aunt is closed on Sunday and Monday. She used to be open on Sunday. Closing Sunday did not effect her. She is busier than ever.
She does not have competion other than a pizza hut.
I could be open on Mondays and probably make it a great day but I choose to have that day for monthly maintenence and just a day to not have to think about pizza and such.
Instead of closing a day, over the past month and a half we’ve been on ½ days.
We were open from 11am to 10pm since we opened, me and the wife were there every morning and ½ the nights. We basically had no life. In the morning we were hitting (not including us) about 30% labor with only 2 other employees. At night without us there we hit 32% with 8 employees
After some heavy calculating I figured out that with the average new profit from the morning… I could make that money back by cutting 2 staff at night and just working it.
So Aug 1st of this year we changed and opened at 4pm. I anticipated a small gain of about 5% in business from people who were not able to order in the afternoon waiting to order at night… and it was correct.
We now run with 6 employees and the 2 of us and average 18% labor which more then makes up for the money we made from the afternoon PLUS we “fixed†some managerial and poor quality control that we did not know was happening at night! So now everything that goes out is 100% perfect EVERYTIME.
Only thing that I DID NOT calculate in, was the full size bills that we would still get from labor, taxes, suppliers, that first month or 2 because we are on 30 day credit and 3 weeks overlap on payroll. So it’s been hitting the pocketbook for the past 1 ½ mo. And should just NOW be leveling out to start profiting again.
I think next year. unless business really picks up, we need to do something for the “off season” here in FL.
Whether or not we only open for dinner Monday and Tuesday, or if we just close all day Monday, it’s too much doing 7 days a week open-close, especially when that Monday’s are so slow.
Quality of life must be worth something, right? haha
I remember when dominos hit my area hard with locations in the 80’s and they didn’t open till 4pm everyday.
competition has pushed the open hours.
If you can make a living being closed then close and enjoy your personal life. If your going to be consumed with business on that off day then you might as well be open.
Quite a few years ago Almost all our pizza carry out clients were closed on Monday and opened at 4 PM. Note there were thousands less pizza shops then.
Closing one day a week would cost us 11-12% of sales. We serve a tourist market and they need to eat every day just like the rest of us.
If my sales were more lopsided and the business on one day of the week was consistently only 5-6% of sales or less I would have to consider closing that day. Otherwise, I come out ahead being open and we serve the customers needs.
BIG HINT: You do not need to be in your store every minute it is open! There is no reason being open 7 days means you have to work more hours. Even if your beliefs require you to take Sunday off, you can find trustworthy employees who have other beliefs and are available to work Sunday.